Campus Digest: In Brief

Cornell Fellows hits 200

In seven years more than 200 Cornell students have benefited from the Cornell Fellows program, which places students in high-level internships where they learn to apply their liberal arts education to the world of work.

The idea came from trustee Dean Riesen ’79 in February 2004, and by February 2005, the first Cornell Fellows had returned to campus. They set a precedent that’s been followed more than 200 times now.

The 200th fellow was Spencer Partridge, a junior from Cedar Rapids. He spent eight weeks as the Williams Fellow for Energy Policy at BCS Incorporated in Arvada, Colo., tackling projects that included helping with an energy efficiency research paper. Sarah Ruen Blanchard ’04 was his site mentor.

He said the fellowship greatly influenced his personal and professional plans, including considering a master’s degree rather than law school. In his Fellows blog, Partridge wrote about how Cornell prepared him to work at BCS.

“I gained knowledge about the inner workings of various government agencies and the amount of work that is contracted to outside sources, including private firms like BCS. In addition, I have continued to expand on my writing skills. While the style is very different, I feel that the writing skills developed at Cornell provided a great basis for enhancing my skills,” he wrote.

Rove, Myers dissect American politics

Karl Rove and Dee Dee Myers discussed the state of the nation, campaign finance, and more at the 2012 Delt Lecture. The pair, moderated by politics Professor Craig Allin, spoke for more than 90 minutes to a nearly packed crowd in King Chapel. Unsurprisingly, the pair disagreed on most issues, but there was one surprise during the evening, when Rove said he thought Hilary Clinton would have been superior to Barack Obama as president. “I think she would have made a better president. I think I would be sleeping better at night than I am now,” he told the crowd.

New food service says Bon Appétit

For the first time in nearly 50 years, Cornell will have a new dining services provider.
Bon Appétit, a California-based food service company, will take over from Sodexo on July 1. The company is known for its methods of cooking from scratch, fresh daily variety, healthy options, and commitment to sustainability.

The college first outsourced food service in 1963 to Saga, which began serving in Bowman and Pfeiffer halls. In 1966 food service was moved to The Commons. In 1986 Marriott bought Saga and in 1998 Marriott merged with Sodexo.

Bon Appétit has more than two dozen college clients, including Macalester, Oberlin and Reed colleges, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT. Earlier this year, Bon Appétit client St. Olaf College was rated the nation’s best dining program by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Another client, Washington University, was rated the top university for food lovers by The Daily Meal online publication. Cornell’s new general manager, transition team and district manager will come from Washington University’s award-winning program.

The selection of Bon Appétit coincides with the start of the Thomas Commons renovations, which will more than double the size of the servery.

Socktopus

One sunny May morning the Rock found itself with a cephalopod companion. The knitted octopus took up residence for only a day, but its size and complexity suggested that it was a long time in the making. No word on its current whereabouts nor who was behind the massive yarn bombing.

(Photo by Tiffany Monreal '14)

Commencement moves outdoors

After more than 20 years indoors, Cornell commencement moved outside for 2012. With College Hall as a backdrop, senior speaker Will Dinneen ’12 entertained his classmates (and President Jonathan Brand, pictured to his right) with memories and lessons from their time at Cornell.